Movie Reviews
Film Review: Righting Wrongs (1986) by Corey Yuen
“It’s money that counts, not guts”
Co-produced by Corey Yuen and Yuen Biao, with the two of them also function as action director, and the first being credited as the director and the second as the protagonist, “Righting Wrongs” is considered one of the best movies of the latter and has now reached the status of cult for a number of reasons.
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In that fashion, some trivia regarding the production are definitely interesting to mention. According to Rothrock, Golden Harvest originally signed her to play the villain opposite of Jackie Chan in Armour of God, but when production halted due to Chan’s near-fatal filming accident, the studio reassigned Rothrock to Righting Wrongs with Biao. While practicing her moves for the film, she injured her right ACL; rather than take time off to undergo surgery, she proceeded to shoot her scenes using her left leg for her kicks. Filming lasted five-and-a-half month, during which Biao sustained a back injury while filming the scene where his character jumped off the second story of a house, despite landing feet-first on some padding dressed up as grass
When the studio needed another female martial artist for the film, Rothrock recommended Karen Sheperd. Upon arriving in Hong Kong, Sheperd demanded that her character should not die, as it would ruin her reputation. In addition, she refused to kill a boy, as written on the screenplay. After Rothrock and Sheperd’s fight scene was completed, the crew filmed a body double doing the scenes the latter refused to do, including her character’s death.
The film’s original ending was met with a negative reception during its midnight screening in Hong Kong; because of this, Rothrock stopped filming China O’Brien and flew from Los Angeles to Hong Kong to reshoot the ending for the Mandarin and international versions. By the end, there were three different edits and four different endings, all of which are included in the Blu-Ray 88 films released in 2022.
Jason Ha Ling-ching is a dedicated, by the book prosecutor who has tried to maintain patience and tolerance under the somewhat flimsy laws of the court and what is happening outside of it, in regards to how decisions are made. However, when his mentor is publicly gunned down in New Zealand, in a rather ominous and symbolic scene including a book of justice getting filled with bullet holes, and the key witness of Ha’s latest case and his entire family is wiped out overnight, Ha can no longer go by the book and decides to take justice in his own hands. However, when he succeeds in killing the first of the two he considers perpetrators, the Hong Kong Police Department sets mad dog Senior Inspector Cindy Si on his heels. With Jason being accused of one more murder he did not commit, it falls on Sammy Yu Chi-Man, a young man who was witness to the actual events to exonerate him, while it is soon revealed that someone named Crown is the mastermind behind all the crimes.
As usual in the HK martial arts movies of the 80s, the script does not make that much sense, in distinct b-movie fashion, although in this case, some comments about how justice is implemented, corruption and the whole concept of vigilantism add a level of depth to the narrative. However, the way a number of the good guys are murdered, the punishment the police receive and the overall brutality that characterizes the story induce the narrative with a rather intense sense of drama that works quite well here. Add to that the misunderstandings that bring Jason and Cindy against each other, including a rather memorable fight sequence, and you have a movie that truly stands out from the plethora of similar films due to its intricacy.
The same actually applies to the acting, with Yuen Biao and Louis Fan as Sammy being quite good, particularly in the dramatic scenes, Roy Chiao as Magistrate Judge emitting authority from every move and gesture and Melvin Wong being a rather competent villain. On the other hand, the comedy elements are definitely mishandled, with the film probably being much better without them.
Of course, considering the nature of the film, the aspect that will define its quality is definitely the action scenes, and it is easy to say that the combined efforts of Yuen and Biao in the direction and the performance of the stuntmen and the actors is truly top notch. The scene with the fight between the two protagonists, the one where Biao is fighting Peter Cunnigham the Black Assassin, the final one and the one where Cynthia Rothrock is fighting Karen Sheperd are truly top notch, and among the most memorable in the whole genre. In that regard, the combination of the intricacy of movement, the speed, and the punishment all involved receive is truly astonishing. Add to that some non-martial arts murders, which are quite dramatic in their presentation, and you have an overall outstanding action aspect.
“Righting Wrongs” is an excellent martial arts film that both thrives on its action and includes enough drama and context to elevate it much above the standards of the category.
Movie Reviews
Review | Daughter’s Daughter: Sylvia Chang anchors intricate women’s drama
3.5/5 stars
A widow in her sixties with a pair of estranged daughters is confronted with a difficult decision following a family tragedy in Huang Xi’s thoughtful drama Daughter’s Daughter.
Winner of the 2024 Golden Horse Awards prize for best screenplay at a ceremony in Taiwan in November, the film explores the strained relationships between parents and their children in a society that is losing sight of traditional filial duties.
The couple were trying for a baby via IVF treatment and a viable embryo survives them, with Jin now the legal guardian. While wrestling with the grief of losing her child, Jin is burdened with the impossible task of deciding the fate of her as-yet unborn grandchild.
Movie Reviews
Andrew Bell’s ‘BLEEDING’ (2024) – Movie Review – PopHorror
I’ve seen good films and I’ve seen bad films. This is, indeed, not a good film by any stretch of the imagination.
Evidently, a new drug that is adjacent to vampire blood is being bought and sold on the black market for profit and pleasure, which already sounds like something from a Bram Stoker rip-off novel. Sean is a young drug dealer who gets his cousin Eric “into some deep shit,” as the characters would put it. Sean’s dad destroys the drugs in a fit of rage and owes money to the people who loaned it to him.
Let’s just get this out of the way. This movie is bad and for all the reasons that you might think. For starters, the dialogue is horrendous and sounds like something from a Grand Theft Auto game, where every other word is profanity. It seems like the writer was writing the script for a film project while in college and forgot to add character development (or characters that we cared about).
Moreover, the plot has already been played so many times. How many times do we have to see a virus ravage the people of a town (or the entire world) and watch it slowly destroy the people in the film little by little? I’m no stranger to a virus movie and I’m certainly on board with a good one. I’ve even made a few virus-related films. It would have been nice to see the filmmakers do something différent with the material.
Finally, the acting is laughably terrible. There is way too much overacting, with screaming and shouting in every other scene. It’s like watching an episode of a Vikings series, with all of the characters are yelling at each other.
All in all, this movie was something that had no purpose and was bereft of character development, which makes me wonder how the film managed to get made.
Movie Reviews
Movie Review: ‘Gladiator II’ | Recent News
“Gladiator II” has some awfully big sandals to fill, both commercially and creatively. Its predecessor, 2000’s “Gladiator,” made $187 million at the domestic box office. The new film has thus far made an estimated $132 million after three weekends of release. With a lot of money up for grabs in the upcoming holiday season, another $55 million isn’t out of the question. Maybe I could even stretch to see it making the $68 million it needs to hit the $200 million mark. Yes, inflation means that it’s less impressive to make these numbers now than it did nearly a quarter-century ago, but these are attainable goals.
What I do not see as attainable is the sequel ever becoming as well-regarded as the original. That film won the Academy Award for Best Picture, so already the new one has to live up to an impossibly high (dare I say “gold”?) standard. But even with realistic standards, this movie is still a disappointment.
The second film takes place a few decades after the first, with the once-great Roman Empire ready to collapse under the blissfully-ignorant rule of twin emperors Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Caracalla (Fred Hechinger). They’re still greedy enough to want to expand the empire, so they send out top general Acacius (Pedro Pascal) to conquer a kingdom in Africa. Acacius doesn’t believe in the imperialist cause, but he’s sworn allegiance to his home, so he sacks the kingdom, which includes killing the wife of top soldier Hanno (Paul Mescal), who swears revenge.
Hanno is taken prisoner and sold into slavery, where he’s served up as a potential gladiator without much consideration. But he impresses in his tryout against a troop of baboons, and is purchased by Macrinus (Denzel Washington), a former slave who sees managing gladiators as a way to curry favor with the emperors, feeding into political ambitions and possibly even a power grab. He makes a deal with Hanno that if his “personal instrument of destruction” can become a superstar in the Colosseum, he’ll eventually give him a chance at revenge against Acacius.
Hanno is conflicted between wanting revenge and not wanting to be used as a political pawn for a slimeball like Macrinus. He’s not conflicted about wanting to stay alive, however, so he plays along in putting together a string of victories. Also, Acacius’s wife Lucilla (Connie Nielsen), the daughter of former emperor Aurelius, notices that Hanno bears a striking resemblance to her long-lost son Luscious. And Luscious’s father… is not Acacius.
The story and action aren’t very engaging in “Gladiator II,” with choppy editing and plodding pacing. But the real weakness of the movie is the acting. Pascal and Nielsen are fine, and the emperors get to do some fun scenery-chewing, but whoever thought that bland pretty-boy Paul Mescal could be an inspirational protagonist on par with the iconic Russell Crowe made a severe miscalculation. Also, and I’m not saying that the rest of the cast is exactly making me feel immersed in Roman culture, but there’s something so unmistakably American about Denzel Washington. Maybe it’s his voice, maybe it’s his mannerisms, maybe it that he shares a last name with the nation’s capital, but he belongs at Caesar’s Palace much more than he belongs at… these Caesars’… palace. He’s too Vegas-y is what I’m saying.
“Gladiator II” has my permission to be a modest financial hit as long as it stays in the shadow of superior recent releases “Moana 2” and “Wicked,” the latter of which has much scarier CGI primates. But it hasn’t won me over as a movie worth recommending, and I definitely don’t consider it an awards contender. Am I not entertained? Taking into account the wording of that question, I can say that yes, I am not entertained.
Grade: C-
“Gladiator II” is rated R for strong bloody violence. Its running time is 148 minutes.
Robert R. Garver is a graduate of the Cinema Studies program at New York University. His weekly movie reviews have been published since 2006.
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